The first day at Argentina’s Termas de Rio Hondo circuit was one of adjusting to the resurfaced track sections and finding feeling in mixed conditions, with high winds and rain drops making for a challenging FP2 session.

In FP1 Andrea Iannone was able to find good pace early on, setting three laps within the 1:40 bracket. He held onto the fastest time for much of the latter part of the session with a 1:40.386, and was 3rd when the chequered flag went out. The Italian was fastest through 3 out of the 4 sectors and he was happy with the feeling of the bike. In the afternoon’s FP2 session he continued to make good progress, setting a 1:40.455 despite damper track conditions.

Alex Rins struggled with front end feeling during FP1, with the track offering low grip due to its low usage and resurfaced sectors. He ended the session with a best lap of 1:41.802. However, in FP2 he found more feeling and better pace, setting a 1:40.592 and taking 8th place. This was an important step which could see him enter directly into Q2 if the weather is bad tomorrow morning.

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“I think we had a good start today, Andrea was fast this morning and he confirmed this in the afternoon with more good pace. With Alex we were able to recover in FP2 despite difficult damp conditions at the beginning, and he was able to improve very much compared to the morning laptime. So at the moment, provisionally, we have both riders in Q2 and in the Top 10. And this is very important in case of rain tomorrow, which is possible. We need to work, but it’s been a positive day, so let’s try to continue like this.”

Andrea Iannone
“It was a solid session this morning, but in any case we need to find some more performance because we want to improve a lot. I think in this track I will struggle less, and the feeling with the bike is not bad. But this afternoon with the wind it was very difficult, the wind makes the bike unstable because it catches the wheels, so FP2 was more difficult than FP1. But we got a lot of information today in various conditions and we have a really clear idea for our adjustments. I didn’t feel a lot of difference with the new asphalt, only that it was less bumpy. Anyway, the grip will improve tomorrow and I hope we will too.”

Alex Rins
“In FP1 we had some problems, we tried many things but it didn’t work out. But in FP2 I was feeling much more comfortable with the bike and I was able to be faster, which means I’m currently in Q2. We need to see if it’s raining or not in FP3, but the important thing is the base settings, and now we need to work on race pace. In the morning I had some problems in the braking zones on the new asphalt as the track was dirty. I tried some different tyre compounds today, and I feel quite comfortable with the medium front and rear.”